training recall to a whistle

I use a whistle on off leash runs and all I did (we already had come down) was blow the whistle and yell come, reward when they came and withing a few times they now come at the whistle without me shouting the come command.

 I always carry treats when off leash and they always get one when they return. When off leash I try to carry treats they do not normally receive at home, like liver or hotdogs

Never but NEVER blow the whistle when the dog is moving away from you - only when he is running TO you already, and pair it with a HIGH value reward initially.  Good luck  

It works great for tough recall dogs......

Needed: 1 whistle, 50 dragline, high value treats ....

As Chuffy mentioned never blow the whistle when the dog is moving away from you.......let him go attached to the dragline, blow whistle, reel dog in and high value treat/praise.......most dogs pick up on this in no time at all....soon you will have a dog that is trustworthy off leash and once that whistle is blown ....here comes the dog........

 thanks all - FWIW Bugsy is a really tough recall dog - his recall is good now off leash in fact in our Distraction Proofing class his was the best BUT...........  when he gets certain scents he is gone.  You may have seen a recent post that we went to the mountains and he went after a deer, full tilt and gone.  I had DH grab my emergency whistle and blow it.  Now it didn't work instantly but he came back from somewhere unseen and a good distance off, we gave him a nice piece of raw steak.

So today I thought I would officially teach the whistle.  I put him in a stay and blew the whistle and tugged on the drag line.  He came. hotdog.  We did this 3 times and I took the drag line off.  Did the stay, whistle.  hmm not sure, so I patted my thighs, he came. hotdog.  Repeat.  Now stay, whistle, he arrives, hotdog.  Stay I go out of sight, whistle, he arrives, hotdog.

DH & I  want to do have him go between us next time each with a whistle and see if we can do that.

Now all of this is a bit contrived because by nose driven mutt knows he is 'learning' ( ask him if he wants to learn and he gets zooped up!).  Only the deer, rabbit, goose, etc. test will tell but I can say my heart stopped when he went for that deer while away.  I was more than elated when he returned.  A first off deer.

I start off by standing next to the dog, blow the whistle, then feed the dog the really good stuff. Whatever the dog REALLY likes. Do that several times. Then move on to the dog is a few feet away but not distracted, blow whistle, dog's head usually whips round and dog comes, feed the good stuff. Then move on to more distracting situations/ longer distances. Every now and again I will revert to step one just to beef up the power of the whistle. You might want to consider springing for a 'dog pager" where you can make the dog's collar beep or vibrate $70 and do similiar training, having the collar right by the dog's head make noise is often sufficient to break the "deer focus".

Where do you get a whistle?  Is there one that makes more of a shrill type sound rather than a regular sports whistle?  I ask b/c often we go for play dates at a sport complex and they have events going on so there will be a ref whistle.  I can do a high pitch through the gap in my front teeth but I'm not sure how far that carries.

 Lies this is the whistle I bought - I just do a normal whistle at night if he's been out too long for his 'business' but this is different. It is an intense whistle LOL

MP we practiced again tonight and he is fired up to play 'whistle'.  I think the idea of 'loading' it is superb though and I will use that our next session.  This just feels amazing to think we may get as close to 100% recall as one can.  Clearly I can't practice on deer but it worked on deer in the middle of the woods without any rehearsal so I am hopeful! 

I just realized that I can at least practice with geese down at the lake - YES!

 My students use whistles for their emergency recall.  We just ask them to do nothing for 2-3 weeks except blow the whistle and hand the dog a treat several times per day (something he never gets otherwise, like liverwurst, tripe, roast beef, cheese, etc.)   It gets to be the same kind of predictor as a crumpling bag or the clunk of the cookie jar lid:-))

This is the whistle we use: http://www.amazon.com/ACME-Thunderer-Whistle-Highest-Grade/dp/B0000BY93O 

 Thanks Ann!

I can't practice on deer

Actually, you almost can.  My round pen is now in a safely fenced area,  so you can work on a long line and then off leash, doing honor stuff around the sheep which you know he likes.  The sheep will be safe in the round pen with Bugsy on the outside.

Did you say geese?  Lake?  I'm looking for places to practice with my dogs.  I've run out of geese up here!  lol 

brookcove

Actually, you almost can.  My round pen is now in a safely fenced area,  so you can work on a long line and then off leash, doing honor stuff around the sheep which you know he likes.  The sheep will be safe in the round pen with Bugsy on the outside.

Give us a few weeks and we might just be ready!

as for the geese well - we live very near Lake Wheeler which usually has various geese, ducks and moorhens and is QUIET during the week because it is for boating more than anything.  There is also Lake Johnson but that is heavily trafficked and we have embarrassed ourselves there because the kiddies come to feed the 'ducks' and Bugsy won't let the 'ducks' near the shore line   LOL he is so proud of himself as he returns from chasing them out 100 yds or more and the mom's and kids are horrified. 

Hey it's everyone's park right?

I tried doing a whistle recall with Neiko at first but it was my own fault that it didn't work. I think that I'll try it again. I would love to have a whistle recall for long distances. 

 Bugsy is really responding to it - I'm super happy so far.  Today I did the whistle treat whistle treat thing and to be honest he was pretty bored.  So we went back to the stay, whistle, come treat and he is over the moon.

From how you have described Neiko it should be pretty easy for you two to get it and it does seem a really valuable tool!